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Starter Course - BlackMood Openings
Course
99 episodes
(4 hours 43 min)
(4 hours 43 min)
Creators
GM Avetik Grigoryan
Champions, hopefully, youâve learned the WhiteMood openings, enjoying it and having lots of fun.
Now itâs time to create an opening repertoire for Black!
While theyâre many fine openings, GM Avetik offers you a one, that is not only
â
Strong and â
Fundamental,
but also,
â
Fun-to-play
â
And the most important - It doesnât require memorization of long variations!
Additionally, with learning just 2 openings(!!!), youâll be ready to fight against each Whiteâs 1st moves - 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3, 1.g3, 1.b3âŠ
Yes! Youâll not need to learn lots of different openings. Just 2! ...
See moreWeâll play French and Dutch!
But not French Defense and Dutch Defense, as theyâre called in the theory.
Weâll play French (1.e4 e6) and Dutch attacks (1.d4 e6 with f5 next)!
Thatâs true, we play with Black pieces, but weâre not going to play passively and choose some defensive openings getting boring positions.
Instead, weâre going to fight for the initiative from the very beginning.
Also, weâre not going to main variations, deeply covered in the theory, where youâll need to memorize long variationsâŠ
As Avetik used these openings all his life, he found lots of interesting outside-box thinking variations, which are not covered in the theory or books.
And in this course, he shares with you lots of interesting new ideas, that will surprise and take your opponents out of preparation from the very beginning, giving you a big practical advantage.
Youâll learn all the ideas, strategies and plans of your openings, thatâll help you to enjoy your game and have lots of fun.
P. S.
At the end of the course, youâll learn about GreyMood Openings!
In case, sometimes you donât want to play 1.e4 with White pieces, or you want to surprise your opponents, youâll see how you can put in action the BlackMood openings with an additional one tempo and keep your opening repertoire very simple.
Now, letâs dive into the unexplored world of French and Dutch attacks and see why weâll not use the âdefenseâ word in this course, targetting the opponentâs King all the time!
What you'll learn
- Why we call it a French attack!
- The key strategies and the plans for both sides in French
- The outside-box variations, without the standard plans
- The uncovered âKinder Surpriseâ variations and the McCutcheon Gambit
- The main attacking ideas behind the Dutch Attack
- Everything you need to know for fighting below 2,000 level opponents
Course Content
-
99
Episodes -
135
Quizzes & Trainings -
4
Attachments -
4 hours 43 min
4.9
Students give this course an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars.
Sanj Dica
Coolest and romatic course i loved itđ and one question - in the Dutch attack 2 Knight system, if white play g3, after black (we) played b6 the system should be the following? (b6,d5,c6, Bb7) ???
(I'm asking after the 2 knight set up without e3 if white played g3,Bg2)
Summa Lai
Anything about e4 e6 d4 d5 ed5 ed5 Nc3?
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
In the Advanced "French" course.
Punpun Payapvattanavong
Crossed 2100 blitz on chess.com the other day with chessmood openings. Can't wait for a full course on the French Attack!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Nice!!!
What was your rating when you started?
Peter Ackland
Have adopted the advice and am now playing the French and the Dutch ATTACKS. The Dutch is fun for sure. Thanks again for another inspiring course.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks, Peter!
ATTACKS! Our lawyer doesn't need details about you for now :) :)
Yuya Sato
This course is very good. I took this course because I wanted to learn French Attack to expand my repertoire against e4. It was a good review of the Opening Principles course throughout the French Attack chapter. I played French Attack OTB and overwhelmed my opponent. I often struggled with London System and was discouraged every time 1. d4 2. Bf4 was played as black. However, after learning how to deal with London System in this course, I can now deal with it with "right mood". Thanks to Avetik for expanding my opening repertoire.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
SUper! Best of luck, my friend!
Neera Ann Rajan
Sir, this course is super helpful. I was bothered with English opening and Nf3 but now I am super excited to play against them.Please always use pdf I can't open pgn in my phone.
Silas Röckle
I LOVE the chessmood black repertoire, especially the dutch. It is a kind of dream opening. Easy to learn, typically you surprise the opponent, there a still different options to play - so less memorization work and still the games can develop differently, sometimes very agressive, sometimes also more positionally. Besides, it works well against the London and Jobava London. Recently i beat 2 1700 elo rated player in classical OTB tournaments with the Dutch!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Yesss!!! Thanks, Silas for your review!
Dutch attack is monsterious! :)
What's your rating?
Silas Röckle
My German national rating is spoiled by my bad play as a teenager (1150), but now i received my first fide elo of 1700 which still sounds crazy to me :)
Zack Hendricks
Pretty good course, but in one of my OTB tournament games I was playing the Dutch and my opponent castled queenside. What should I do in these situations?
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Zack, questions in the forum - Pro channel. Please.
And there was a detailed video on what to do when White castles long.
Karl-Heinz Kotitschke
I followed a lot of our GM Trainers advices(thanks a lot!) and won an nice game
(no mistakes by me, according to the computer, also not always the best computer moves)
after 5 Hours play.
Trainers advices i followed and my ideas:
Dutch attack
Bb4
after Bd2 waiting for a3 before taking on c3
When my opponent play Bd2 to g5 I took on c3 and doubeld the pawns
playing h6 to ask the bishop
trying to win the c4 Pawn
after a tactical mistake(Rd2 to double the Rook) I got a pawn
after being a pawn up no need any more to attack the king
giving a pawn back to exchange the queens and going in an ending with 2 Rooks
against Rook and Knight(knowing the knight is tricky and dangerous, but a Rook is simply strong)
Giving a rook for the knight going in an easy won rook ending.
Doing a manover with my rook bring the opponent in Zugzwang
If anyone likes to see the opening part of the game(or more)
here it is:
NN(1853) - Kotitschke, Karlheinz (1843)
SK Neumarkt 1 - SK Rothenburg 1 17.11.2024
1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bd2 O-O 6. g3 b6 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. O-O Qe7 9. Bg5 Bxc3 10. bxc3 h6 11. Bxf6 Qxf6 12. e3 d6 13. Qb3 Nc6 14. Rfd1 Na5 15. Qa4 Bc6 16. Qb4 Be4 17. Rd2 c5 18. Qb5 a6 19. Qa4 Bc6 20. Qc2 Nxc4 21. Rdd1 Be4 22. Qb3 Bd5 23. Qc2 b5 24. Nd2 Bxg2 25. Kxg2 Nb6 26. dxc5 dxc5 27. Nb3 e5 28. Rd2 c4 29. Na5 Na4 30. Kg1 Nc5 31. a4 Qb6 32. Rd5 Nxa4 33. Rxa4 bxa4 34. Qxa4 Qb1+ 35. Rd1 Qb5 36. Qxc4+ Qxc4 37. Nxc4 e4 38. Ra1 Rf6 39. Ra4 Rc6 40. Kg2 Kf8 41. g4 g6 42. Kg3 Ke7 43. gxf5 gxf5 44. Kf4 Ke6 45. Rb4 a5 46. Ra4 Rc5 47. f3 exf3 48. Kxf3 Rxc4 49. Rxc4 a4 50. Rd4 a3 51. Rd1 a2 52. Ra1 Ke5 53. h3 h5 54. c4 h4 55. c5 Ra4 56. c6 Kd6 57. c7 Kxc7 58. Ke2 Kd6 59. Kd3 Kd5 60. Kd2 Ke4 61. Ke2 Ra3 62. Kf2 Ra5 63. Ke2 Ra4 64. Kf2 Ra3 65. Kg1 Kxe3 0-1
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Karl-Heinz, you took that c4 pawn soooo smothly! :)
Nice! Thanks for sharing this!
cecilio gonzalez
Beautiful opening course.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks! :)
Christian Hammerman
Great course!!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Happy you loved it!
Eli se
I'll think about it
Eli se
I have to give it 4 stars there is no dutch pgn file
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Is it a joke? Or seriously? :) They are just under the videos, as in every single course :)
Here, you can see PDF files and PGN files as well :)
https://prnt.sc/SpjhdtpJOcRa
Eli se
I couldn't see the dutch pgn file when I downloaded it
Eli se
there might be a problem with the downloader so I'll give it 4.5 stars because I don't know which
Eli se
but can you please add a dutch pgn file on its own
Eli se
pdfs are really good though
Eli se
amazing course though
Karl-Heinz Kotitschke
Sebastian (1726) - Karlheinz (1833)
NT NĂŒrnberg 4 - SK Rothenburg 1
The course helped me to win against a young but lower rated oponent:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. c3 e5 5. Bb5 dxe4 6. Nxe4 Qd5 7. Bxc6+ Qxc6 8. d5 Qg6 9. Ng3 Bd6 10. N1e2 f5 11. Qc2 Ne7 12. c4 Bb4+ 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Bd2 c6 15. O-O-O Bd7 16. a3 Bc5 17. Na4 Bxf2 18. Bb4 Be3+ 19. Kb1 Qf7 20. d6 Ng6 21. Rhf1 b5 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. Bxc5 Qxc4 24. Qxc4+ bxc4 25. Rc1 Nf4 26. Rc2 Rf6 27. Bd4 Nd3 28. Bg1 Be6 29. d7 Bxd7 30. Rxc4 Rb8 31. b4 a5 32. Rd1 e4 33. Nxe4 fxe4 34. Bd4 Rg6 35. Ba7 Rb7 36. Bc5 axb4 37. axb4 Nxc5 38. Rxc5 Rxg2 39. b5 Rxb5+ 40. Rxb5 cxb5 41. Rxd7 e3 42. Re7 e2 43. Kc2 0-1
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Great!
One thing - when the N is placed on g3 or g6, often h4 and h5 moves can be very unpleasant.
In your game, for example, instead of f5.
Just to keep in mind for the future!
And thanks for sharing this!
Karl-Heinz Kotitschke
Thank you very much, you value your students so much!
(I did not expect you would have a look at the game)
And thanks for the tip.
I love your courses and look forward for an advanced french course.
The one for beginners is normaly very good for me, but if i suspect an
specific oppent will prepare for me i might change .
Karlheinz
Christian Hammerman
Great course and teacher!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks, Christian!
Argho Das
GM Avetik and his team did a great job with the E4 whitemood and blackmood openings. After watching the videos, I feel confident because the moves are logical, easy to execute and are deceptively potent. The same concepts repeat overtime and gives an improving adult like me belief that I can play at a decent level. In online blitz and rapid, if you know these types of lines and are the one attacking, you will more often than not. It will take at least 6 months to feel comfortable with the white and black repertoire but I have a feeling that once I do, my rating will definitely jump. In fact, I played 10-15 bullets just to familiarize myself with the opening and 10 blitz games. My rating has jumped and I feel confident because my moves follow a plan. I am still going through both opening sets for under 1500 but very intent on practicing and implementing these plans. I hope I didn't miss this in the website but if it isn't covered, I wish in time, the Chessmood team will in due time do a easy to follow 1. d4 repertoire as well (used to play it knowing only a few things but not having learned the plans). My gratitude to the GM and his team.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks a lot for kind words! Wishing you the growth accompanied with lots of fun.
Yes, one day we'll create a 1.d4 easy repertoire too. Though, not in very near future :)
darwin padrigone
Goodchit GM avetik!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Hehe :)
Timo Loos
Great and interesting course
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks, Timo!
Shreyash Karkare
Being a 2000+ player on chess.com french attack is still working for me
Thanks a lot
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Yes!!! Glad to hear that :)
S ARUN KUMAR
SIMPLY AWESOME, SIMPLICITY , CLARITY AND POWERFUL! THANKS A MILLION COACH!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Happy to see such energy in just words! Thanks for sharing this!
Brad Horne
Excellent course! I will have to repeat some of it to get it to stick a bit better but I love how it all fits together, transposing to either the French or the Dutch. And I love the addition of GreyMood Attack! What a simple and brilliant idea -- I think I will start playing the BlackMood "system" as both black and white for a while to get it to really sink in.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Hey Brad! Thanks for sharing kind words and a beautiful review.
I think it makes lots of sense to try those systems for both sides and start feeling them. Then you might want to switch to 1.e4, at some point! Best of luck!
Chris Knight
Great course and I feel much better prepared as Black. The ideas you give really enable moves to stick in the memory because you explain Why to make them! I feel I'll need to keep on reviewing the course material to ensure some of the subtleties stick, but as I play them as often as possible now, I'm much more confident. Thanks so much
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks, Chris!
Once you watch the model games course, you'll feel the openings even better.
Best of luck!
Ashok ng
dear friend
really sad to not see my beloved Winawer variation.
Anis Chess
what you did against larsen's opening was soo smart!!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Hehe :)
Thunder Bolt
love it. I am not done yet, I am about to finish the Dutch Attack, but I love all the lines you have shown! I hope the advanced courses will be here soon as I am only a little bit below 2000 and I should be ready for them soon with chessmood membership!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Great! :)
Saeid Mousavi
GM Avo
That was a very good course. I can see that you have put in much effort.
I played a Dutch Attack last night and won against an opponent 200 elo above me. I still have lots to practice though.
Thank you.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Ole, ole, ole!!!
Thank you, my friend! Best of luck with our BlackMood attacks! :)
Riccardo Volpati
Amazing course Avo ! ,
expecially how to transpose to (french or dutch) ATTACK ! depending on White 's move
Thanks , as usual you are the best
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Riccardo! Thanks a lot, my friend!
ATTACK! RIABBBBOOOO!!! :)
Juan Carlos Sanchez Jimenez
Great course, Avetik, when you talk about the main course, what course do you mean? Thanks!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks Juan!
I'll record advanced Dutch and French.
Juan Carlos Sanchez Jimenez
Thank you very much Avetik, I look forward to these courses!
Pertti Erkkinen
Liked Dutch ATTACK a lot, but had to learn benko because every one was playing g3 at my level and I got a boring position :( When will we get the advanced Dutch course? I want to play Dutch again!!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Ah? You didn't mate them with Stonewall Attack? :)
Pertti Erkkinen
No just getting crushed on the queenside :(
David Stanford
A really simple and effective black repertoire, have been using it with confidence and getting good results.
Thanks Avi!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Great!
Mating everyone, Rf6 lift in Dutch? :)
David Stanford
You betcha!đ€Ł
Nishant Bhardwaj
nice course
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Gracias! :)
S ARUN KUMAR
AWESOME, SIMPLICITY WITH ACCURACY, MILLION THANKS
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Million thank you, too :)
Phillip Sheldon
Thank you very much for this brilliant Black Mood openings course. I have deliberately avoided the French DEFENCE for the last 25 years! I thought it was 'boring'. I am now going to start to play the French ATTACK thanks to your course.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Hehe :)
Thanks a lot!
Yeah, "ATTACK" is a key word here :)
Joe BB
Excellent course! Even better than the whitemood openings! The other day, I had a very funny moment in a game I played at my local chess club: I was playing black, and I played the "Kinder suprise" Ng8 variation, and something very funny happened. The game went like this: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Ng8!? 5. Nb1!!!??? :D transposing to the advanced variation! You even mentioned this possible transposition in the course, but you might never have thought that it would happen in a real game!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Ahahahaha :) :) :)
I remember, once I played with White, 1.e4 c5 2.a3!?
I used to have this move in blitz repertoire.
My opponent thought I am showing disrespect. He played 2...a6
I played 3.b4, and got a strong center soon :)
Probably your opponent also thought its a disrespect and wanted to answer with the same, haha :)
Ravi Kumar
wow its super
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks!
Same as WhiteMood? :)
MASSIMILIANO CARTA
Great course! Can you suggest a continuation after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Bxc4 Bc6 7. Nc3? Thank You!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thank Luigi!
You just play Ne7, Nd7, Nb6, controlling the weak d5 square and in the future pressure the d4 pawn.
MASSIMILIANO CARTA
Hello my super coach! I love this course, but i faced an unexpected line. Can you suggest a good continuation for this ?
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5. c4
Thank you
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Luigi, I covered it in the course, didn't I?
https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings/episode/3901
Ethan Sims
I love French but I truly believe McCutcheon Gambit section needs a proper plan against 7. Bb5+ which is the move I get most often also feels most natural to play before taking de6. Black doesnât have many good options. c6 leads to bad pawn structure and limited pieces(on top of being pawn down) Bd7 or Nd7 leads to trades again unfavorable being pawn down. Or move the king and lose castling rights. Every time I get 7. Bb5+ I ask myself why I play this variation. Please help!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Ethan, thanks!
Any such questions can be addressed in ChessMood forum, if you're a PRO Member.
A quick answer. I guess the most practical way is c6, and after dc6 bc6, you plan 0-0, Bb7, Rd8, c5!
Not easy for White during an actual game.
Ethan Sims
Thanks coach!
Eyal Politzer
Hy avetik very good curse but one qwestion what shuld i do against e4 e6 d4 d5 e5 bd7 a3?
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks!
Just continue our plan with a6, Bd7 Bb5.
Eyal Politzer
thanks you very much
Gabriel Cattoir
The way you explain it, is so wonderful and crystal clear.
It is a delight to listen to you.
You make it all sound so logical and easy without being on a high horse.
Thank you for that!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks a lot, Gabriel!
Massimo Cucca
This course allowed me to build a solid and easy to play repertoire for black without studying too much theory.
However i didn't like much the lines that have been suggested to play the French and some of the ideas in this course might even be inaccurate.
For example, after 1e4 e6 2d4 d5 3e5 Bd7 4Nf3 a6, according to the course, 5c4 is "a very bad move", but it's actually the top Stockfish move and i think it completely refutes the variation. The plan suggested to counter that move doesn't seem to work at all.
So i decided to play the main line against the advance variation. Also i believe that a practical way to reduce theory is to take the pawn on e4 against both the classical and the Tarrasch variations.
On the other hand i really liked the dutch section. I also liked the anti-Larsen choice, but i think that section should be developed a bit more.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Massimo, thanks!
We tried to build a very practical opening repertoire.
c4 is top move for engine, because then it plays a very inhuman Ng5 and sacs the piece... Which no one will do against you on low levels, unless they are cheaters.
Massimo Cucca
Thank you for your reply. I never faced this Ng5 move, but it seems impossible to prevent white from pushing d4. I can't have enough control of that square. Ne7 can be pinned or exchanged, Nd7-b6 is not fast enough.
Also i'm not sure about the sacrifice being inhuman, against e6-f7 pawn chain (usually in scandinavian and caro-kann) i always monitor the possibility of a sacrifice on f7.
Mohammad javad Rezvani
My main first move for black is 1...b6 against each Whiteâs First moves . But I always felt it was too passive or I would reach a position with little space , and now the idea of playing Another move against all white's first Move is very Interesting to me Especially if this is French Attack And Dutch attack :D . Now its more aggressive and has more space . it was a really good course i will play it as Black And i can't wait for an advance version and Deeper lines Of this course .Thank you for your Good work .
ChessMood
Thank you very much! Yeah, 1...b6 is also interesting. But with Dutch you'll get a better version of your type of positions.
Karl-Heinz Kotitschke
Last saison(in the most importent games against other teams) i won 5 and drew 4 games, witch gave me a tournament DWZ over 2100(about the same in ELO).
I startet with only close to 1800 DWZ and increased to 1855 DWZ.
I strongly believe that happen, because of ChessMood, which was fun to learn
and because of the fun i did spent more time in learning.
Thanks for the good courses!
Karl-Heinz
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Wow! Fantastic!
Kanishka Choudhary
Great Course !
Thanks.
Now I will play French and Dutch Attack !!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Yeey! You're on the right path!
Edward Tay
Such a great opening repertoire as black. Despite being a "starter" course, I've had multiple opponents that were confused right out of the gate. Great course, especially since I desperately searched something solid I could do as black.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Great!
That's it! They are sidelines, but very healthy, and most opponents will have no clue on what to do :)
Good luck!
Richard Fish
I've recently joined ChessMood specifically for this BlackMood course. I enjoy playing the Dutch and wanted a clearer idea of how to play it - especially against the London system. I have found the explanations in this course very clear and helpful. One question I am left with is what to do if white plays with Bd3 rather than Be2 along with Nd2 - this seems restrict the possibility of playing ...Ne4? Any advice on this would be really helpful! Thanks again for a great course.
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks, Richard!
Generally, questions are being posted in forum, and there are lots of discussions going.
But answering to it, you still play b6, Bb7, and when Qe2, you face it by playing Ne4 yourself.
Also, you can find model games with this in the BlackMood Model Game course.
Geeta Ve
The lines weren't that deep unlike the other openings eg, scotch. I found scotch really helpful because I understood everything and got to know more theory about it. The French and Dutch didn't go so deep in lines as I expected. Still good course but I was expecting deeper lines. Great work!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks!
That's right.
Scotch, you're going to get much-much-much more than any other opening below 2,000 level.
That's why it's much bigger, than any other section of WhiteMood or BlackMood :)
John Cooper
I really love this stuff!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Super!
Abdulrahman M Mishal
Hello,
Thank you for a great course. I noticed there is no coverage on french defense wing gambit variation. I got destroyed a few times in blitz against it. Would be great if you added it . Thanks for you help i improved a lot
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks!
I will add it in the big French course. Wanted to keep it simple.
For now, just played 3...Bd7 again. Delay c5.
Karl-Heinz Kotitschke
I won a nice game with this strange Ng8, because my opponent gave me
early the Bishop pair.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Ng8 5. Be3 Ne7 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxe7 Bxe7 8. Nf3 c5 9. Bb5+ Nc6 10. O-O O-O 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. a3 cxd4 13. Nxd4 Qc7 14. Re1 Bd7 15. Qe2 Qb6 16. Nb3 c5 17. Rab1 f6 18. Qg4 Rad8 19. exf6 Rxf6 20. Qe2 Bc6 21. Nd2 Rdf8 22. Nd1 Bd6 23. c4 Qc7 24. Nf1 d4 25. Ng3 Bxg3 26. hxg3 Re8 27. Qh5 Rf5 28. Qe2 e5 29. f3 e4 30. f4 e3 31. b4 Be4 32. Rb2 Rff8 33. b5 Qf7 34. a4 Qg6 35. Kh2 Rf5 36. Rh1 Rh5+ 37. Kg1 Rxh1+ 38. Kxh1 Qxg3 39. Qh5 Bg6 40. Qd5+ Bf7 41. Qxc5 e2 0-1
ChessMood
Nice! :)
Francois Chevalier
Outstanding! Congrats!!
GM_Avetik Grigoryan
Thanks!
Anthony Giles
I was brought here during the 10 days of unlocked courses after an email from Chess Fox. I am really glad I did! Previously, I have used Chessable, YouTube, Lichess Studies, private coaching, and even read some actual books (!) - these lessons are by far the best resource of them all, and I will definitely be signing up for more. Thank you, GM Grigoryan and ChessMood!
ChessMood
Anthony! What a review!
Thanks so much for your kind words.
And we're glad, to finally find each other :)
Raising a toast for the long and fun journey together!
Do you have a drink with you?
Jean-Luc Gerber
ChessMood you are the best of the best. I was stubbornly trying to memorize so many variations that I almost lost my mood for chess. You opened my eyes, by showing me that understanding what we do is so much more important. Love you guys. Thank you so much for all your work and thank you to highly upwarding my joy to play and learn chess.
By the way: I think I found a small typo mistake in the PDF...against other moves, in 1.Nf3 and 1.g3 section:
"Same story. We go 1âŠe6 and then either 2.e4 d5 transposing to French or we go 2âŠd5 â Dutch attack!" It's 2...f5- Dutch attack
ChessMood
What a way to start the day!
Thanks so much for your kind words!
It's so cool, to see more people converting from memorizing variations to understanding the openings.
And thanks for showing us the typo! Will fix it! :)
Arturo Cuellar
A practical and complete repertoire, thank you very much!
ChessMood
Thank you, too, Arturo!
John Cooper
Brilliant approach -- I love this stuff!
ChessMood
Thanks, John!
ARSH SHREEN
ARSH SHREEN
BEST
EVER
ChessMood
Thanks! :)
José Padeiro
And about the sicilian?
Tiago Morita
Great repertoire focusing on ideas and plans.
ChessMood
Thanks, Tiago!
ARSH SHREEN
Ron Brinegar
GAME CHANGER, AWESOME LESSONS !!!
ChessMood
Ron, thanks!
Arno du Plessis
very good
ChessMood
Merci!
Ron Brinegar
This is the best chess training I've ever seen. It's like having a Grandmaster sitting across the table explaining the game in ways that makes it easy to find the best move to attack or defend. I give this site the highest rating, Chess-Mood site is a game changer... Many Thanks
ChessMood
What a beautiful review!
Thank you, so much, Ron!
Otfried Geffert
I tried a lot of different approaches to play with black (Pirc Defense, Sicilian, Caro Kann, playing symmetrical up to some point). It was a disappointing and quite passive way of playing or I was shattered after having the initiative.
Finally I find here proper advice - so happy about.
ChessMood
Otfried! Wow! How's it going?
Srihari AK
Thanks Again Avetik For this amazing repertoire for e4 and d4, and thanks again for doing this! I never thought about playing e6 before f5 in the Dutch Attack! Keep up the Great Work from you and the whole ChessMood Team!
ChessMood
Thanks a lot! Will do! :)
Tony O'Donovan
Fantastic course
ChessMood
Tony, thanks!
Tafo G
Great job!!!!
ChessMood
Gracias! :)
Sharan Sridhar
superbb
ChessMood
Mersi :)
Chiller Codwell
Thank You so much GM Avetik for making these simplified courses. Easy to understand the variations. I love the French and Dutch attack. =)
ChessMood
Thanks, Chiller!
Amelito Reyes
The French Attack and the Dutch Attack are now my main opening repertoire. Excellent tutorial as usual from ChessMood!
ChessMood
Amelito, gracias!
NL LN
First of all, I consider GM Grigoryan's explanations for openings the BEST that I have seen and these starter courses are no exception!
On another note I really would like this repertoire to have more "Meat", the explanations are great but I think the coverage is minimal in several variations, for example French against KIA, 2.b3, Wing Gambit, etc
Same with Dutch against Torre, Colle, Zukertort, London, etc
In general I would LOVE to see another 2-3 more hours on French and Dutch and similarly sufficient coverage for the odd first moves, be it with more theory OR instructive tournament games illustrating the variations covered... more guidance.
The full "serious" Black repertoire is about 33 hrs... vs 4 hrs or so for the starter one, I really hope this Black Repertoire gets Bumped UP!
ChessMood
Thanks a lot!
Yeah, we tried to keep it as simple as possible. And then record full courses for 2000+ players who need to know more.
Greg Wolmarans
Brilliant courses.
ChessMood
Thanks, Greg!
bruno mauro
Wonderful job! Really interesting stuff!
Thanks.
ChessMood
Bruno, gracias!
ChessImprov Sank
As a lower rated player (~1450 chess.com rapid rating), I find these are useful and helpful instead of learning long lines that never gets played by opponents.
ChessMood
Super! And did you like WhiteMood openings too?
Jim McAree
I never considered the French before. Looks very interesting! Thanks!
ChessMood
Thanks, Jim!
Leslie Smith
Beautiful ideas to answer White and quickly seize the initiative and gain a winning position. Thank you ChessMood for putting this together!
ChessMood
Leslie, thanks!
Patrick Adams
I've always had an interest in playing the french. I remember my first move as Black, before I knew anything was 1. . . e6! How exciting. Thank you guys!
ChessMood
Thanks! :) Will do our best! :)
T K
Amazing!
ChessMood
Thanks!
GM Avetik Grigoryan
After having a successful playing career where he became the Armenian Champion in 2010, GM Avetik Grigoryan found his passion for chess coaching and switched to it full-time.
Since then, he has guided many ambitious players to become Grandmasters and International Masters and has over 10 years of coaching experience.
He believes anyone can improve at chess, with the right mood and proper direction. And with that vision, he founded ChessMood in 2018.
After having a successful playing career where he became the Armenian Champion in 2010, GM Avetik Grigoryan found his passion for chess coaching and switched to it full-time.
Since then, he has guided many ambitious players to become Grandmasters and International Masters and has over 10 years of coaching experience.
He believes anyone can improve at chess, with the right mood and proper direction. And with that vision, he founded ChessMood in 2018.
GM Avetik offers an easy to learn, fun and practical opening repertoire with the Black pieces.
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Course
99
Episodes
135
Quizzes & Trainings
4
Attachments
4 hours 43 min
99
135
4
4 hours 43 min
Creators
GM Avetik Grigoryan
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You can unlock access to ALL of our 500+ hours of Grandmaster-crafted courses!
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You can unlock access to ALL of our 500+ hours of Grandmaster-crafted courses!
Did you know?
You can unlock access to ALL of our 500+ hours of Grandmaster-crafted courses!
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